Next hop selection in a wireless protocol is made by selecting a least cost hop. Historically, cost has been determined by hop count, signal strength, error rate, utilization, and other factors. One technique for wireless routing selection involves defining cost based on expected transmission time (ETT) for some link (ETTI).
For example, link cost may be determined by measuring the transmission time to send a 1 Mbps stream of packets across the link and measuring its transmission time for some number of bytes. An algorithm may measure for each available bandwidth across the link, and the transmission time is defined as the time from when the packet is scheduled (specifically, sent to the radio) and the time that an acknowledgement is received.
The improvement of algorithms for next hop selection are the subject of research. Any improvements may have significant repercussions on the relevant technologies. Accordingly, any improvement in next hop selection would be advantageous.
These are but a subset of the problems and issues associated with wireless routing selection, and are intended to characterize weaknesses in the prior art by way of example. The foregoing examples of the related art and limitations related therewith are intended to be illustrative and not exclusive. Other limitations of the related art will become apparent to those of skill in the art upon a reading of the specification and a study of the drawings.